STUTTGART, Germany, Mar 17, 2009 — Testifying for the first time since U.S. Africa Command achieved Unified Command Status, General William E. Ward outlined the command's activities, strategies, and programs before the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 17, 2009.

Also testifying were commanders of the U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Northern Command, and U.S. Transportation Command.

During his testimony, Ward outlined some of U.S. Africa Command's military-to-military programs. and exercises that are geared to assist African nations in meeting their security goals.

"In many engagements with African leaders -- over my time as commander of United States Africa Command, and previously as deputy commander of the United States European Command, the consistent message they give me is for their intent for their nations to provide for their own security."

Ward also addressed the issue of piracy off the coast of Somalia, stating that there has been "considerable progress made" as the coalition of nations supporting counterpiracy has increased. He stressed that the root of the piracy problem in the Gulf of Aden is the lack of an effective government in Somalia and supporting the establishment of an effective government institution would help to achieve a long term solution to the region's piracy challenges.

"Our efforts to work with those nations to increase their capacity to provide for their own maritime safety and security have gone a long way to help them address the threat of piracy," Ward said. "We look to increase those efforts in the east along the east coast of Africa, again, adding to the capacity and capabilities of those nations to coordinate, to share information, to have visibility over the territorial waters."

Ward was asked about the political situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following a three-month operation led by Uganda against the rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). He stated that the efforts by Uganda, Rwanda, and the Congo have had a positive effect in disrupting the activities of the LRA.

"The use of violence -- rape, murders and other atrocities that [the LRA] commits against the citizens in these areas is something that we all look at in a very negative way," Ward said. "And to the degree that we can continue to support efforts to address that, I clearly say we ought to take every opportunity we can to do so."

The below transcript includes introductions by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and excerpts of the testimony relating to U.S. Africa Command:

SEN. LEVIN: Good morning, everybody. Today we have before our committee four of our combatant commanders for our annual posture review to discuss the issues and challenges confronting each of them. We welcome our witnesses today. Admiral Jim Stavridis is the commander of the U.S. Southern Command; General Gene Renuart is the commander of the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. We're joined also, of course, by General Kip Ward, commander of the U.S. Africa Command and General Duncan McNabb, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command.

Let me first express on behalf of our entire committee our gratitude for your service and for the service of the men and women that you lead. And I hope, and I know all of us feel the same way, that you will express to them our enormous respect and appreciation for their dedication to our nation and for the many sacrifices that they are willing to make on behalf of their fellow citizens.

Issues before the committee this morning run the gamut from transportation and supply routes to support U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and around the world to the threat posed by narcotics trade within our hemisphere to the defense of our homeland to how to best engage nations in Africa as they confront threats from non-state actors and the regional implications of failed or failing states.

Admiral Stavridis, the challenges that we face in our hemisphere are complex. The drug trade in South and Central America is booming, and the violence associated with the drug trade is migrating northward, as you know. President Chavez continues to work to undermine U.S. interests in the region and to do everything possible to maintain his own power, yet we continue to rely on his country for much of our nation's petroleum. We're also confronted with Iran's nascent and growing interest in the region. Your command has also seen gains over the past few years. Plan Colombia has enabled the Colombian government to expand security and government services to the farthest reaches of Colombia.

General Renuart, the brutal violence that we see in Mexico today reminds us of the situation that Colombia faced a decade ago. Nearly every week, we hear a report of a senior official in Mexico being killed in a brazen attack. The root cause of the violence in Mexico is the same as in Colombia -- criminal organizations using any means necessary to traffic illegal narcotics for enormous financial gain. The origin of these narcotics remains Colombia mainly, but the problems created from this trafficking run from Lima to Tijuana and America's southern border and northward.

Governors from our southern-border states are calling on the federal government to send troops to help defend against the possibility of this violence entering American communities. Following a trip to Mexico earlier this month, Admiral Mullen talked about a, quote, "shared responsibility" for the case of the crisis and said the United States had a shared responsibility to clean it up as well. The committee will be interested to hear how NORTHCOM is working with the Mexican military to help address this violence and how NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM are working together along the seam of their respective commands to mitigate and deconflict our assistance programs. Northern Command also has the responsibility for operating the Ground-based Midcourse Defense missile defense system deployed to the defend the United States against a potential ballistic missile attack from North Korea. The Pentagon's director of Operational Test and Evaluation recently wrote, and I quote, "GMD flight testing to date will not support a high degree of confidence in its limited capabilities," close quote. We are interested to hear from you, General Renuart, about the testing and the performance of that system, along with a number of other issues.

General Ward, the challenges on the African continent are staggering -- we don't have to tell you -- from the conflicts that rage across borders to fragile governments to nations where peacekeeping or peace-enforcing forces are the best and sometimes the only hope for security and stability. The terrorism threat from Africa and particularly the potential for havens and recruiting grounds for terrorists in ungoverned or under-governed areas are cause for deep concern. Last week before this committee, the Director of National Intelligence Blair described an al Qaeda-affiliated group as the, quote, "most active terrorist group in northwestern Africa," close quote, and assessed that it, quote, "represents a significant threat to U.S. and Western interests in the region."

The situation in West Africa is further complicated by the increased flow of narcotics from the SOUTHCOM AOR en route to Europe via West Africa. The consequences of cooperation between terrorists and traffickers of illegal narcotics are cause for great concern. We need to look no further than Colombia and the FARC in South America and Afghanistan and the Taliban in Central Asia to understand the importance of working with our partner nations to confront this threat.

General McNabb, TRANSCOM's planning role and preparations to support both the drawdown from Iraq and the buildup in Afghanistan will be critical issues in the coming 12 to 24 months. The committee is eager to hear from you on transportation and logistics risks associated with the shift of resources and personnel. With respect to supply routes into Afghanistan, in recent weeks, we have seen additional security and political pressure on the critical supply routes that run from Karachi, Pakistan up to the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan as well as the apparent decision by the government of Kyrgyzstan to deny U.S. forces use of the air base at Manas.

The committee would like to hear from you on TRANSCOM's role in helping to resolve these access and supply route challenges, also tell us if our allies are using or considering the use of Iran as a supply route. And we also hope that you'll explain to the committee the greatest risks to completing TRANSCOM's support missions and how you would propose to eliminate or to mitigate. And finally, given that our other witnesses are from geographical combatant commands, I hope that you will discuss TRANSCOM's support of SOUTHCOM, AFRICOM and NORTHCOM. One last item. During the Director of National Intelligence Blair's testimony before this committee last week, all of us noted with great interest that he spoke of the risks associated with the current global economic downturn. We'd be interested in hearing from each of the witnesses about the impact of the economic downturn and in which nations you believe the risks to be most significant.

Our thanks, again, to each of our witnesses for your service to this nation and the service of the dedicated men and women who serve under your command.

Senator McCain.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I join you in welcoming our witnesses today. And I'd like to echo your thanks to the witnesses and the men and women, who serve under their command, for their distinguished service to our nation.

There's a number of important issues we hope our witnesses will address in this hearing.

General McNabb, as the United States increases significantly the size of its forces in Afghanistan, supply lines will obviously become even more important. It's been reported, for example, that the daily demand for truck deliveries into Afghanistan will increase by some 50 percent as an additional 17,000 troops deploy to the country. This increased demand comes at a time when our supply routes through Pakistan have grown increasingly dangerous and the government of Kyrgyzstan has evicted or announced the eviction of our forces for Manas Air Base.

Other possible supply routes are problematic, from those that would rely on Russian good will to a route that passes through Uzbekistan which evicted our forces from the K2 base following the Andijon massacre to an Iranian route which I understand some of our NATO allies are considering. General McNabb, I look forward to hearing your views on the viability of alternate supply routes and how we might deal with some of the problems they present.

I also hope we'll hear about TRANSCOM's plans for maintaining its air mobility readiness, especially your thoughts on recapitalization of the current KC-135 aerial refueling tanker. I'm troubled by recent reports that suggest some members of Congress have advocated statutorally directing a split buy between Boeing and Northrop Grumman. The replacement tanker decision must be based on a competitive process that provides a warfighter with the best possible tanker at the best possible cost to the taxpayer. Obviously, splitting this contract would have a dramatic increase in the cost to the taxpayer. So we don't need an expedient political decision that is totally impractical and inefficient.

There are a number of developments in our own hemisphere. For instance, Hugo Chavez offered an island base for Russian bombers. Reportedly, a Russian general suggested that Cuba could host its own Russian bombers. You know, Americans and, frankly, members of this committee are not quite understanding exactly what's going on here, and you'll help us separate rhetoric from reality, I'm sure.

On Sunday, El Salvador elected a new government. And while President Funes has so far shown no affinity for the likes of Hugo Chavez, change continues to sweep through Central and South America, change that can have a direct impact on the security of the United States. America's future is fundamentally tied to the stability, prosperity and security of our southern neighbors. The recent increase in violence along our southern border is perhaps the chief example of the interplay between our own security and that of our southern neighbors.

The recent increase in violence along our southern border is perhaps the chief example of the interplay between our own security and that of our southern neighbors. Today, Phoenix, Arizona is the kidnapping capital of America, and gangs that were born in El Salvador and Nicaragua wreak havoc in our nation's cities and towns.

Through the Merida Initiative with Mexico, and via our various security partnerships throughout the hemisphere, we must help our southern neighbors help themselves in a concerted effort to fight crime, stop drug trafficking and provide security for their people as well as ours.

In Africa, a continent rich in resources and talent, and yet rife with corruption, disease, poverty and civil unrest, the U.S. Africa Command faces unique challenges. The world and our government has long considered Africa largely a humanitarian mission, a matter of charity rather than opportunity. This needs to change. The 1998 bombings of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya did much to remind us that our interests are intertwined with events in Africa and each year the distance between us seems to grow shorter.

From the perils of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, to a terrorist sanctuary in Somalia, to the numerous conflicts that rage in Africa, we face real challenges in our security operations and partnerships there. I believe it's imperative for the United States to develop a comprehensive strategy toward the African Continent, one that integrates our security objectives with the development and democratic objectives that our best partners in Africa wish to attain.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.

SEN. LEVIN: Thank you very much, Senator McCain.

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[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted . . . ]

General Ward.

GEN. WARD: (Off mike.) Chairman Levin, Senator McCain, distinguished members of the committee, thanks for the opportunity to provide this overview of (your nation's military newest ?) -- (inaudible) --

SEN. LEVIN: Is your mike on, General?

GEN. WARD: It is now, sir.

SEN. LEVIN: Thank you.

GEN. WARD: Again, thank you for this opportunity to provide you this overview. Also with me today are Ms. Mary Pleffner from the Department of Commerce, who is a member of my staff; as well as Mr. Jerry Lanier from the Department of State. And I'm also honored to appear alongside my distinguished colleagues who provide such great, great collaborative efforts as we pursue our nation's security objectives.

Last year, sir, I talked to you about my plan to put a headquarters together. Today, United States Africa Command is executing our mission of conducting sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs and military-sponsored activities that are designed to promote a more stable and secure African environment. We work in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners to ensure that our activities are harmonized. Our strategy is based on military-to-military efforts to enhance the security capacity and capability of our African partners.

In many engagements with African leaders -- over my time as commander of United States Africa Command, and previously as deputy commander of the United States European Command, the consistent message they give me is for their intent for their nations to provide for their own security. Most welcome U.S. Africa Command's assistance in reaching their goals for security forces that are legitimate and professional; have the will and means to dissuade, deter and defeat transnational threats; perform with integrity; and are increasingly able to support the mission in support of international peace.

We work as a part of an overall U.S. government effort. We work closely with the departments of State, the chiefs of mission, and country teams, the United States Agency for International Development, the departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Agriculture and other agencies doing work on the continent. And I fully support enhancements to the capabilities of our interagency team-mates.

Similarly, we reach out to international partners, including Europeans, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, private enterprises and academia. Their perspectives on the situation in Africa are valuable.

The US Africa Command is involved in military training, education, sustainment and logistics support -- among other activities -- throughout our area of responsibility.

The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, headquartered in Djibouti, conducts training, education and civil military assistance that helps prevent conflict and promote regional cooperation among nations of Eastern Africa.

Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans Sahara is the military component of the Department of State's counterterrorism partnership with North and West African nations. Africa Endeavor is an annual communications and interoperability exercise that this year will include 23 African nations.

We support the State Department's Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program that trains roughly 20 battalions of peacekeepers per year. The peacekeepers have been deployed on United Nations and African Union missions across the continent. We help the Rwandans deploy some of their cargo to the United Nation's mission in Darfur.

Continuing deployment of the Africa Partner Station provides training to the navies and coast guards of the maritime nations in the Gulf of Guinea and the east coast of East Africa -- helping them better secure their own territorial waters.

Given the lack of infrastructure within Africa and the island nations, our sustainment infrastructure, forward-operating sites and en route infrastructure are vital. I endorse upgrade projects supporting these infrastructure nodes. The enduring presence at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti makes possible our engagement in east Africa and other parts of the continent, and supports our U.S. strategic goals in the region.

It is my honor to serve with our uniformed men and women and as well as our civilian men and women of the Department of Defense, including our interagency teammates who are making a difference on the continent each and every day. Their dedicated efforts are a testament to the spirit and determination of the American people and our commitment to contributing to the well being and security of our nation and the people of Africa.

I thank you for your support to this endeavor, and I too look forward for this opportunity to provide you additional information. Thank you very much.

[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted . . . ]

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SEN. LEVIN: Thank you, Senator Lieberman. Senator Inhofe?

SEN. INHOFE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Let me first of all ask Admiral Stavridis and General Ward a question, and I've talked to you personally about my interest in the various train-and-equip programs, 1206, 1207, 1208, CERP program and then the expansion of that in the CCIF as to how they're progressing and how valuable they are to your commands.

Admiral.

ADM. STAVRIDIS: Sir, very valuable. Anything that builds partnership capacity is of terrific value in this world to the south. Just to pick up a thread from Gene Renuart and Senator Lieberman's conversation a moment ago about what specifically are we doing about the situation not only in Mexico but in Central America, it's good to remember the Merida Initiative provides funds not just for Mexico but for Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. So these maritime approaches can be addressed using the kind of funding that you just talked about. We use some of those to help our partner nations equip themselves with better radars, intercept modes, a night-vision-detection capability, command and control. So it all fits together in how we establish a pattern of stopping this flow of narcotics and allowing our partner nations to know what's in the water around them. That's one specific example.

Another is the hostage rescue in Colombia was something that could not have been done without that partnership in the past.

SEN. INHOFE: Thank you, Admiral.

General Ward.

GEN. WARD: Senator, I concur. Those programs that deal with training and equipping our partner nations to better enable them to conduct counterterror activities, to have better abilities to control their internal border are very valuable. The equipment pieces, including things such as mentioned by Admiral Stavridis, the information systems, the radar systems, the equipment pieces that go to their mobility requirements inland as well as things that they do in their coastal territorial waters have been very instrumental in increasing their capacity to take care of those challenges. So likewise, those programs for us for building capacity as well as for -- (inaudible).

SEN. INHOFE: I would also say, and I notice in your written statement -- I actually read it -- you talked about the fact that in the IMET program, of the 52 countries, you now feel that there will be 46 of those countries by the end of this fiscal year that will be participating in that.

GEN. WARD: Yes, sir. The IMET program that we have, we anticipate 46 of those countries that will participate in IMET. The International Military Education and Training program, I think, provides long-term benefits for our national interests as well as transforming those militaries in positive ways.

SEN. INHOFE: Yeah. And you agree with that, I assume, Admiral?

ADM. STAVRIDIS: I do. And in particular, we like to use those IMET funds at WHINSEC which is a very valuable institute for us.

SEN. INHOFE: Yea. You know, once there was a time when we thought we were doing them a favor in this program. But we quickly learned that once they are tied into us and that kind of relationship that remains.

General Ward, there are a lot of problems that people don't really think about. Everyone's familiar with Sudan, and everyone's familiar with the pirating off the east coast and such things as the LRA, Lord's Resistance Army. Right now, in my opinion, we have the three presidents that are in agreement with each other and are all trying to work on this guy Joseph Kony. Do you want to tell us how that's coming along and how significant you think that is to do something about that particular person Joseph Kony and his LRA program?

GEN. WARD: That part of the continent, the heartland as many Africans describe it, the eastern Congo, a long-time area where the internal strife has been affecting neighbors, the fact that Uganda, Rwanda and Congo came together to look at a way to deal with the problem of the LRA and Kony and the effect they were having on the population is very substantial. It has been positive insofar as disrupting the activity of Kony. It's been positive in addressing some the training and recruiting practices that he and his element had performed in that part of the Congo. The degree of cooperation continues amongst those three nations, and we look for that to continue to make a positive difference in that part of the continent.

SEN. INHOFE: I think that is a huge success. You know, we had President Museveni and Kagame both having military backgrounds. There's a little bit of a problem with them getting along with each other now with Kabila, they are cooperating now, and I'm glad to hear that progress is being made.

In Zimbabwe, you spent a lot of time in your written statement on that or didn't mention Mugabe. They're currently trying to work out a program where he had the opposition, very similar to Burundi working together. Do you think that might work? Do you think Mugabe might work in that program and getting cooperation?

GEN. WARD: I hesitate to say. I don't know. But I think, clearly, the initiative that's under way with that potential being there is a positive development. And I would certainly look forward to something positive coming from this arrangement that Mugabe and -- (inaudible) -- have put in place.

SEN. INHOFE: Okay. Let me ask a question of you, General Renuart. You might be the best one. I'm not sure. Maybe some of the rest of you have some ideas. It's been five years now since we lost the battle of Viegas. At that time, I can remember when General -- (inaudible) -- was actually testifying before this committee where he threatened the lives of some people you're looking at right now.

We had made the statement that they close down that particular facility that offered a type of training that, in my opinion, I think most of you would agree with this, couldn't be replaced anywhere else. Now as we anticipated, since it is closed, they are now coming back, the very people who wanted it closed in the first place and are saying, is there any way in the world we can get this thing opened back up and use this facility? I know it's not a question anyone would anticipate. But do you have any thoughts on that?

GEN. RENUART: Senator --

SEN. INHOFE: Can it be resurrected?

GEN. RENUART: (Laughs.) I'm probably not the right person to tell you specifically on the capacity to resurrect that training. I will say that we have recently moved the islands of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands into the NORTHCOM area of interest. And on my first visits down there, it was clear to me that one of the challenges that we have is to continue to extend the visibility of our homeland further to the southeast, in areas of detection of illicit trade and trafficking, significant human trafficking area there, certainly also in the area of air sovereignty and air defense, as we saw the participation, as Senator McCain mentioned, of Russian bombers in the region.

And so I think there is an opportunity for us on a small basis to put some capacity into that area that maybe hasn't been there in quite a while and that could be integrated into our national homeland defense system. And so we are looking to work with both the Navy and the National Guard to see how we might take advantage of some of the systems and equipment that is still in place in the Viegas area. I might defer to Jim Stavridis for a Navy view on this.

ADM. STAVRIDIS: I think you've got it exactly right. And I wouldn't speak for the Navy. I'm a joint officer like everybody else up here, so I'll be glad to take that one back to my good friend Admiral Roughead. I think he'd be interested in looking at that. Viegas, as you know, was the crown jewel of maritime training at one time. SEN. INHOFE: Well, if you would do that, I would appreciate it.

ADM. STAVRIDIS: Yes, sir. We'll collaborate and get you a common answer to that, Senator. Yes, sir.

SEN. INHOFE: Thank you.

SEN. LEVIN: Thank you, Senator Inhofe.

Senator Reed.

SEN. JACK REED (D-RI): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

General McNabb, roughly what percentage of contract airlift do you depend upon? And how cost-effective and efficient do you think it is? And does it depend in the area of operations, changing from one theater to another?

GEN. MCNABB: Senator Reed, we have the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, as you know. And we depend on that when it's, you know, fully up to be about 30 percent to almost 90 percent of the movement of passengers, but 30 percent of the cargo which is the bulk cargo. Today, I would say during normal operations we do about $500 million worth of business; today we do about $2.5 billion worth of business with them. They have been very instrumental in our ability to both resupply Iraq and Afghanistan. We do have cargo missions go directly into Afghanistan, which has really helped free up things like Manas. As we do options, we make sure that we do that.

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet, the one issue is the fact that you've got to really look hard at the threat to see if you can operate forward. If you can't take it in there, you have to stop at an intermediate base and then transload to a C-17, C-5, 130, and that's the portion that, obviously, we look at.

As we think about Manas, I'd say that it's useful but not essential because we just need to make sure that we have bases that are in the there close, something that CENTCOM's looking very closely at, other places where we can bed down airplane. Obviously, if we could keep Manas, that would be great. If not, we do have other options.

I would say that we depend, too, a great deal on moving the cheapest possible way to move bulk cargo, that's pallet-sized cargo, is on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet.

SEN. REED: General Ward, your command, does it rely ostensibly on contract air lift, or are you directly supported by military aircraft?

GEN. WARD: We are directly supported by military aircraft, Senator. We do use some contract aircraft, but we are directly supported by military. SEN. REED: Are you concerned, the general concern, that there are some operations that might be tactical in nature that this contract aircraft wouldn't be suitable for? Is that a concern that you have?

GEN. WARD: Not at this time.

[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted . . . ]

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Senator Bill Nelson.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D-FL): I want to compliment General Ward and Admiral Stavridis, as you all are adapting to this new policy where you're not only a warrior, you're also a diplomat. And Secretary Gates actually commented on this policy. He says, broadly speaking, when it comes to America's engagement with the rest of the world, it's important that the military is and clearly seem to be in a supporting role to civilian agencies.

You've been doing that, Admiral Stavridis.

General Ward, as you're setting up Africa Command, you're doing that.

Admiral Stavridis, what would you say to General Ward, you know, in your experience in prioritizing the coordination with those civilian agencies?

ADM. STAVRIDIS: Well, Senator, you'll be glad to know that General Ward and I just brought our staffs together for two and a half days of very specific conversation on all this to include a great deal of our personal time and all of our senior leadership. And we learned a lot from each other. And I'm learning things from the way Kip Ward is doing business, and hopefully we were helpful to him.

I would say that fundamentally, both General Ward and I understand, based on these conversations, that SOUTHCOM and AFRICOM do defense and that State Department does diplomacy and AID does development. But as you said, what we try and do is be in a supporting role wherever we can.

So for example, at SOUTHCOM, to give you one specific example, we're taking all of our theater security cooperation plans about our military-to-military activities and we're actually going and sitting with our partners at State and AID and looking at how our training activities, our human rights seminars, our disaster relief work, how that can be supportive of what AID does as they do development and what State does as they do diplomacy. So we very much see ourselves as taking a supporting, background role. We do not want to militarize our foreign policy in any way. We want a civilian face on these activities and civilian leadership. But we want to seek to be helpful and supporting wherever we can. That's been our approach. Kip.

SEN. NELSON: I'm going to short circuit this, if I may, General Ward, because I've got some other questions that I need to get into. Just suffice it to say, congratulations on what you're doing.


[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted . . . ]

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SEN. MARTINEZ: General Ward, I wanted to ask you about the piracy issue near Somalia in the past year where, you know, we've had a considerable amount of disruption to commercial shipping. Any insights into that issue? What can we do to continue to try to stave off those problems?

GEN. WARD: Senator, as you know, the counterpiracy effort is led in the water by Central Command, the Combined Task Force 151. There has been considerable progress made as the coalition of nations supporting counterpiracy has increased as an international coalition of nations. We support that through our activities ashore as well as through our limited facilities in Djibouti as those nations participate in the counterpiracy activities. But I would offer, as I think most of us know, that the root of the piracy issue in the Gulf of Aden, there in the Indian Ocean, is the result of the lack of an effective government there in Somalia. So our efforts to support the establishment of effective institutions of government there in Somalia would be the long-term fix to the piracy that goes there. It also exists on the east coast and parts of the west coast of Africa, certainly not to the degree.

But in that regard, our efforts to work with those nations to increase their capacity to provide for their own maritime safety and security have gone a long way to help them address the threat of piracy. We look to increase those efforts in the east along the east coast of Africa, again, adding to the capacity and capabilities of those nations to coordinate, to share information, to have visibility over the territorial waters and to be able to do something about it once something is detected. So those efforts continue but the large increase in Naval presence afloat with that coalition as well as tactics being taken by commercial shippers to address the issue because even there are measures that briefly they have been taking to help address piracy issues as well. So there's been a combination of those things that have led to what has been received or seen as a reduction in the level of pirating that goes on in the Gulf of Aden and there in the Indian Ocean.

SEN. MARTINEZ: Thank you, sir.

[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted . . . ]

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General Ward, in my home town in Greensboro, North Carolina I have a large number of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They talk to me frequently about their situation in their home, and their fears for their safety -- for their family members and associates there.

There is also a situation where, if there's a violation of an immigration status, that there's fear that people who are deported back to the Congo will be murdered when they arrive. I wondered if you could update us on the security situation there.

And then, in addition, I read quite frequently about the use of rape as a weapon against young women, and children and old women in the Congo. And there was a recent article that Bob Herbert wrote in The New York Times, talking about that it's really hundreds of thousands of victims, and the fact that, you know, should they live, the incontinence and the humiliation of the themselves and their family members is widespread.

GEN. WARD: Senator, to be sure, the violence that can be perpetrated against civilian populations in the Congo and other parts of the continent is absolutely deplorable. We, through various mechanisms, are doing our part in providing increased capacities for these nations to, firstly, deal with the rebel and renegade groups that operate inside their territories.

As was mentioned recently, the collaboration that existed between three governments -- the governments of Uganda, The Congo and Rwanda, to address the LRA in the Eastern Congo was, I think, at this point in time, something that we should all look at in a very optimistic way as signaling a degree of cooperation amongst those regional neighbors to address a common problem that has done the sorts of things you describe as it terrorizes the populations in those areas. The use of violence -- rape, murders and other atrocities that these groups commit against the citizens in these areas is something that we all look at in a very negative way. And to the degree that we can continue to support efforts to address that, I clearly say we ought to take every opportunity we can to do so.

We do that in conjunction with the Department of State, with U.S. Aid for International Development, as they work their activities to, 1) help increase the effectiveness of the institutions of government in those regions; and, obviously, our role there is, as we work with these nations, increase their capacity, from a security point of view, to deal with that threat that exists.

Programs such as the Defense Institute for International Legal Structures, where we provide some support to these institutions, these governments, when in fact they catch and apprehend folks who have done these crimes and can -- and prosecute and punish accordingly we also support. But to be sure, those are deplorable situations that we pay attention to and do our best to do something about.

SEN. HAGAN: And it's -- it's certainly a horrible thing to read about and to think that that's going on on a daily basis. It's most concerning. I have another question I wanted to ask you about oil theft. You discussed the serious problem of oil theft in the Niger Delta, and in your written testimony you stated that in Nigeria oil exports have been reduced by up to 20 percent due to banditry, and in a country in which 95 percent of the foreign exchange earnings come from the oil industry certainly a 20 percent reduction in exports a serious blow to that country's economy. And can you expand on this problem and what is being done to address it?

GEN. WARD: The country of Nigeria, Senator, a sovereign nation, has its own requirement to provide for the security of its defense within its borders. We, through various, various numbers of programs, work with the Nigerian government to increase their capacity to in fact deal with these problems of illegal oil bunkering as well as other threats against the oil infrastructure there in the Niger Delta.

We do not get actively involved in activities but we in fact are involved in our training work. As you know, there is the Africa Partnership Station, which is a training program where we work with the nations in the region -- Gulf of Guinea -- to increase their capacity to do several things -- first, to detect what goes on inside their territorial waters; two, to address it in some common way; and then three, to do it in a way that helps to increase and promote security such that the work being done by those military and other security forces are in fact -- or that work is in fact work that contributes to additional security as opposed to alienating populations, alienating the local community, et cetera.

Our programs for increasing their military capabilities include training, it includes equipment, it includes common operational procedures that lead to better interoperability among these nations as well. That is an ongoing program, an ongoing project that we have working with the -- the Nigerian government but also other governments there in the Gulf of Guinea to address that problem of illegal bunkering. I would also add that when it happens, i.e., effective training for illegal bunkering, this also transfers over into other areas -- illegal fishing, which also robs those nations of a very, very valuable resource that can be used to support their population. So it's illegal fishing, illegal oil bunkering. It also gets to the point that we talked with SOUTHCOM -- the flow of illegal drugs, trafficking of people. They're all tied. They're all enhanced -- correction, our ability to correct those issues or enhance through our military-to-military cooperation and military-to-military support, our training assistance programs that address these common threats that exist in the region.

SEN. HAGAN: If there is such stealing of the oil there there's got to be a distribution network set up to deal with it. And I was just wondering from a security measure and an oversight do you see this distribution system also?

GEN. WARD: We don't see it in great fashion. I will take that and get a better answer back to you. But what we do know is when it does occur it is done in -- through black market channels, the -- that bunkering that exists. The local population, again, because of the wealth distribution will use that to -- to augment their own resource that they can bring into account. But it is there. We don't know the extent to which it goes on inside of the government but there's clearly -- unfortunately, it also wastes a lot of the resources. So in many respects, it all goes back and it contributes to pollution and other negative effects there on the environment as well.

SEN. HAGAN: Thank you.


[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted . . . ]

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SEN. ROLAND BURRIS (D-IL): Thank you Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to commend our distinguished panel for all the work that you do on behalf of the people of this great country and the people of the world, so congratulations gentlemen.

I'm going to really focus, in the interest of time, on two areas -- on to of the commands. I noted that the three geographic commands all address inter-agency cooperation in the statements and, specifically, a new inter-agency organizational model at the Southern Command and the African Command. I'm interested in how success with interagency organizational inclusions can be used in other commands? I'm also very interested in the future of the African Command. I'm also interested in the Transportation Command response to increased fuel prices and any piracy concerns related to our transportation assets.

And let me begin my question with the Southern Command. I understand that the USNS Comfort, the Navy hospital ship, its home port is in Baltimore and they're preparing to deploy next month for a four-month humanitarian assistance mission to Latin America and the Caribbean. A hulking hospital ship three football fields long and one wide -- which must be a monster -- will deliver medical, dental, veterinarian and engineering assistance in support of the term "continuing promise." This mission is the Southern Command's fourth as in many years and the public diplomacy value of the visit by the Comfort are measurable according to DOD and the State Department officials.

So Admiral, have the nations receiving the Comfort expressed any concerns -- those that are going to receive assistance from it -- expressed any concern about the visit of the Comfort? What is their reaction to that service coming to them?

ADM. STAVRIDIS: Sir, it's been overwhelmingly positive. Comfort made a voyage two summers ago and did 400,000 patient treatments through 12 different countries. The public response to that was extremely positive in each of the nations, and we have very detailed information about that and I'll be glad to share that with you as a matter of record -- in fact, I'd like to.

This summer's voyage of the Comfort for that reason is called "Continuing Promise." The first one was "The Promise" because it was the first time we were lucky enough to have a hospital ship, and this year's voyage is to show that we want to continue those good effects.

It's important to note that this is a ship that's full of non- governmental volunteer organizations, such as Operation Hope, for example, one of our partners; it has full inter-agency cooperation; it's very tied into and supportive of the individual country teams; it functions under the direction of the ambassador when it gets into the individual port; and it has been received with open arms in every port visit it's gone to in the past and I anticipate the same this summer, sir.

SEN. BURRIS: Thank you. And let me go to the African Command. I know that you've addressed the HIV treatment program in Africa but no other broad spectrum military treatment. Now, General Ward, what consideration has your command given to securing a visit from the hospital ship? Is that ship going to head to any of the African ports?

GEN. WARD: Senator, clearly given the success that the hospital ship program has had in other geographic commands, we too are looking at it as an augmentation to our theater of security cooperation and the benefits that we can provide to the continent of Africa.

The nations in Africa, there are currently five that have the capacity to bring that large vessel into port -- most of them are in the Mediterranean. And so therefore what we have done in the meantime as we continue to pursue the benefits of the hospital ship, though, is to incorporate those like capabilities aboard our Africa Partnership Stations, bringing medical, dental and veterinary treatment as well as providing a platform for training to regional medical personnel who embark upon those platforms when they are in their geographical areas along that coastline; receive training; treat local residents and then continue on.

We do see this as a viable option. And as we conduct our theater security cooperation planning efforts in the future, we see the hospital ship program as one that we, too, would like to take advantage of as we continue to provide this type of support to our African friends.

ADM. STAVRIDIS: Senator, if I could just add to concur completely with General Ward, this was a subject of discussion between AFRICOM and SOUTHCOM at the staff talks that I mentioned earlier. We learned a lot from how General Ward's folks are doing what he calls "Africa Partnership Stations," which is a terrific program. We want to try some of those things and hopefully he had a chance to look at the hospital ship program and it's a good example of how we're trying to cooperate amongst ourselves here to be efficient.

SEN. BURRIS: Okay. And regarding the Africa Command's headquarters location upon the command's establishment. There was speculation that an Africa Command might be permanently located in Europe or in the United States, and some have argued that Africa Command headquarters should be located in Africa; I understand it's in Stuttgart, Germany. Is that where it's located? Is that any hindrance to the service that you all can give to the continent of Africa, General Ward?

GEN. WARD: Senator, at this time it is not a hindrance. As we split the command up and as it occurred about a year ago, the location that we had there in Stuttgart, Germany provided the facilities, provided the geographic locational relationships that we need as we work with our European partners, as well as working with the nations of Africa.

Again, the headquarters itself and the planning that we do there is that -- the continent is obviously so large, wherever the headquarters is, quite candidly, sir, we would be going someplace else, as reflected in the tremendous travel that I do on a weekly basis throughout the continent of Africa. But right now where we are works for the command. Our focus, our priority is to show our African friends, show our international as well as inter-agency partners, that the creation of the command is enhancing the delivery of security assistance programs on the continent.

The headquarters location at the current time is not a factor in our ability to do that and in increasingly effective ways. As time goes on, I'm sure that decision might be revisited, but at the current time it does not at all impede the ability that we want to have -- and the results that we want to have -- and that is increasing the capacity of these African nations through our robust military-to- military programs as well as our other military supportive activities.

[ . . . Discussion not related to Africa Command omitted...]

SEN. LEVIN: Thank you. We're not going to be able to have a second round. But the record will be open for questions. And if Senator McCaskill has no other questions, there's no one else here to ask, I will bang the gavel.

Thank you very much for your testimony. It was very, very helpful.

END OF TRANSCRIPT

Source: AFRICOM Public Affairs